Herb Garden Design
Herb gardens are becoming increasingley popular due to the popularity
of world cuisine such as Italian, Indian and Chinese food. This article
gives you guidelines on herb garden design. The herb garden is functional
in a number of different ways as it can provides us with an attractive
focal point, a fragrant area, culinary ingredients for flavouring and
medicinal ingredients for natural healing. The process of designing
a herb garden should be a simple but considered affair. Factors we need
to consider include:
- Space available
- Micro climate of the site
- Which herbs we wish to grow
- Aesthetic appeal
- Grouping of plants
- Closeness to the house / kitchen
- Incorporation of 'non herbs' (if any)
Choosing a site for the herb garden
You may already have a site in mind for the herb garden, if so make
sure you have taken into account the following factors:
Does the site receive adequate levels of sunshine - around 5 hours
of direct sunlight a day is the minimum recommended. Is the soil well
drained? Herbs don't like to have waterlogged roots so make sure the
site is well drained for good herb growth. Is the site near the house
(kitchen if growing culinary herbs)? You are more likely to use your
herbs if you don't have to trek down the length of the garden to collect
them.
Space required
If you are still happy with the proposed site after considering these
factors then the next thing to consider is space required by the garden.
This will of course depend on the number and types of plants that you
want to grow. When choosing which herbs to grow then start off with
ones that you know you are likely to use. If say you predominantly use
Basil, Garlic and Parsley and little else in the way of herbs then you
should allocated most of the space to these herbs. If you have spare
room then you can try experimenting with growing some herbs you have
never tried before or by experimenting with different varieties to see
which varieties grow best in your herb garden.
Whilst most herbs will have good continued growth after harvesting
some of their leaves some herbs such as Dill and Coriander are not so
good at recovering and so may need discarding after a while with a new
plant taking its place. Because of this extra space may be required
if you require a continuous supply of these herbs as you will need plants
at various stages in the plants life cycle (seed, mature seedling, harvestable
plant) to ensure there is always a harvestable crop.
Grouping of plants
A traditional herb garden design will group plants depending on what
type of herb they are. For instance you may have a block of garlic plants,
a block of Basil plants and a block of Parsely plants. The blocks are
often seperated by a divider such as bricks, wood or paths to help prevent
one type of herb encroaching on another herbs space and outcompeting
it. Some vigourous growing herbs such as Mint should be kept in their
pots to prevent encroachment, with such potted herbs simply dig suitable
holes in the appropriate section of the garden and place the pots directly
into them so that the pot rim is level with the soil surface.
Visual appeal
This grouping gives the herb garden a more formal look and is aesthetically
pleasing. If you wish for a more informal design then you can reduce
the degree of grouping or use irregular shapes for the grouping blocks.
The incorporation of some non-herbs such as flowers can help create
more of a country cottage type herb garden. A focal point is often added
in the centre of the herb garden. Items used for the focal point can
sun dial, fountain (careful pre-planning needed for the water feed),
bird bath or sculpture.
Accessibility of the herb garden
The herb garden design should take into account the accessibility of
the herbs. In larger herb gardens small paths may be necessary so that
you can reach the plants in the centre of the grouping blocks. Paths
can also guide a user through a variety of fragrances produced by the
herbs. A popular design resembles a cart-wheel with the wheel spokes
translating into the garden paths. Gravel, brick or paving make good
path material. A square design can be achieved by using 4 reclaimed
railway sleepers as shown below. Here the different herb types are grouped
in rows.